Jabbo Oltmanns

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Jabbo Oltmanns (born May 18, 1783 in Wittmund ( East Friesland ), † November 27, 1833 in Berlin ) was a German mathematician and astronomer , Alexander von Humboldt's collaborator and professor of applied mathematics in Berlin.

Life

Jabbo Oltmanns came from a long-established and respected merchant family in East Frisia. The father, Tjard Oltmanns, died at the age of 25 when Jabbo was just two years old. Almost nothing is known about his childhood, school days or training. He was not confirmed until he was almost 17 years old (1800). Oltmanns probably lived from 1802 to 1804 as boarder with the preacher and later consistorial councilor Uve Edden Ihmels (1756-1840) in Aurich .

Mediated by Ludwig von Vincke , Oltmanns moved to Berlin in 1805, where he worked for Johann Elert Bode , the head of the Berlin observatory . He helped Bode with the astronomical observations and the work on the Berlin Astronomical Yearbook , in which his first own writings appeared. In the same year of arrival he met Alexander von Humboldt and also worked with him, whereby until 1811 he stood out in particular as the editor of his astronomical and geographical observations, which were published in French in volumes XXI and XXII of the Humboldt'schen Reisewerkes in Paris . Based on Humboldt's observations, Oltmanns calculated the geographic positions of numerous locations in Central and South America , including data from other travelers. In this way, the first scientifically founded compilation of the geographical longitude and latitude information of the most important places on the new continent was created, which was still relevant around 1870. This work brought Jabbo Oltmann's high praise and recognition and, as a special honor, the Laland medal of the Institut National of the Paris Academy. During this time (1806) Alexander von Humboldt wrote in a letter to the astronomer and geodesist Franz Xaver von Zach about Jabbo Oltmanns:

“Mr. Oltmanns is a wonderful young man who has educated himself completely, full of talent, humility and incomprehensible perseverance. He often hardly leaves his work for forty days, has great skill in higher calculus and a thorough reading. People who love the sciences for their own sake are rare. "

The early fame that Jabbo Oltmanns achieved in the service of Humboldt, however, later became the undoing of his career. It is true that Alexander received an offer from his brother Wilhelm von Humboldt to the Berlin University just founded by his brother in 1810 , combined with the award of becoming a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . But the imperial government also became aware of him. As a brilliant speaker, also well versed in French, he was an almost perfect fit for the government for the post of "sub-prefect" and rentmaster in the now French "department of East Ems" (1810-1813). In 1812 Oltmanns was forced to renounce the two unperceived Berlin positions.

With the early end of the "French era" in 1813, Jabbo Oltmanns also lost his government office. He got by with mathematics lessons in East Friesland, married in November 1815 and began new scientific work, which in 1824 finally led to King Friedrich Wilhelm III. von Prussia appointed Jabbo Oltmanns full professor of applied mathematics in the Berlin faculty. He held this office until his untimely death on November 27, 1833.

Fonts

  • Investigations into the geography of the new continent . Paris 1810.
  • The trigonometric-topographical survey of the Principality of East Friesland . Leer 1815.
  • About the true epoch of the great solar eclipse mentioned by Herodotus on the Halys River , In: Treatises of the mathematical class of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin from the years 1812-1813 (Realschul-Buchhandlung, Berlin, 1816). Pp. 75-94.
  • The German trading channel . Bremen and Leer 1817.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Oltmanns, Jabbo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oltmanus, Jabbo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician , astronomer and professor of applied mathematics
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1783
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittmund ( East Frisia )
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 1833
Place of death Berlin